Business Ethics
Ethical Decision Making and
Cases, Seventh Edition
O.C. Ferrell
University of New Mexico
John Fraedrich
University of Wyoming
Linda Ferrell
University of New Mexico
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7-1
Chapter 7
Organizational Factors:
The Role of Ethical
Culture and Relationships
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7-2
Corporate Culture
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Values
Beliefs
Goals
Norms
Groups
Corporate history
Founder
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7-3
Corporate Culture
• A set of values, beliefs, goals, norms, and
rituals that members or employees of an
organization share.
• A company’s history and unwritten rules are
a part of its culture.
• An organization’s failure to monitor or
manage its culture may result in unethical
behavior.
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7-4
Two Basic Dimensions
Determine an Organization’s
Culture
• Concern for people—the organization’s
efforts to care for its employees’ wellbeing
• Concern for performance—the
organization’s efforts to focus on output
and employee productivity
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7-5
Ethical Framework and Audit
• Caring
• Apathetic
• Exacting
• Integrative
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7-6
Organizational Culture
Ethics Audit
• Does the culture reward unethical
behavior?
• Does the organization hire people with
values perceived as unethical?
• Is the company’s objective to make as
much profit as possible?
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7-7
Role of Leadership
• To guide and direct others toward the
achievement of a goal
• To motivate others and enforce
organizational rules and policies
• To influence the corporate culture and
ethical posture of the organization (rewards
and punishment)
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7-8
Interpersonal Relationships
• One of the biggest challenges in business
is getting diverse people to work together
efficiently and ethically while coordinating
their skills.
• Relationships among individuals and
within groups are an important part of the
proper functioning of a business
organization.
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7-9
Interpersonal Relationships
in Organizations
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Corporation as a moral agent
Variation in employee conduct
Role relationships
Significant others
Differential association
Whistle-blowing
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7-10
Interpersonal Relationships
in Organizations
• Organizational pressures
– Opportunity and conflict
– Conflict resolution
• How to improve ethical decision making
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7-11
Corporation as a
Moral Agent
• Organizations can be held accountable for
the conduct of their employees and for all
business decisions and outcomes.
• The organization is responsible to society
for its collective decisions and actions.
• Organizations must be responsible for the
correctness of all policies.
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7-12
Variation of Employee
Conduct
• 10% of employees follow their own values
and beliefs
• 40% try to follow company rules and policies
• 40% go along with the work group
• 10% take advantage of the situation if the
penalty is low and risk of being caught is low
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7-13
Role Relationships
• Total of all relationships in which a
person is involved because of his or her
position in the organization (role)
• Peers and top managers are the most
influential factors in organizational
ethical decision making
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7-14
Differential Association
• The idea that people learn ethical or
unethical behavior while interacting with
others who are part of their role-set or other
intimate personal groups
• Association with those who are unethical,
combined with the opportunity to act
unethically, is a major influence on ethical
decision making
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7-15
Whistle-Blowing
• Exposing an employer’s wrongdoing to
outsiders, such as the media or government
regulatory agencies
• Whistle-blowers often receive negative
performance appraisals, become
organizational ‘outcasts,’ and lose their jobs
• Companies often establish internal whistleblower reporting mechanisms
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7-16
Organizational Pressures
• Time
• Middle managers
• Pressure to perform
• Pressure to increase profits
• Top managers
• Low level managers
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7-17
Opportunity and Conflict
Create Ethical Dilemmas
• Opportunity is the set of conditions that
limits unfavorable behavior or rewards
favorable behavior
• A person who behaves unethically and is
rewarded (or not punished) is likely to
continue to act unethically
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7-18
Conflict Resolution
• Personal-organizational
• Personal-societal
• Organizational-societal
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7-19
Role of Motivation
• To focus employees’ behavior toward goal
achievement within the organization
• To understand an individual’s hierarchy of
needs and how they influence motivation
and ethical behavior
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7-20
Centralized Organizations
• Decision making is concentrated at the upper
management levels
• Works well in high-risk industries with fewer
skilled lower-level employees
• Ethical issues: very little upward
communication, less understanding of the
interrelatedness of functions, and
transferring blame to those who are not
responsible
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7-21
Decentralized Organizations
• Decision making is delegated as far down the
chain of command as possible.
• Control and coordination are relatively
informal and personal, and the organization is
adaptable and sensitive to external changes.
• Employees are empowered to make decisions;
therefore decentralized organizations tend to
have fewer formalized ethics programs and
policies.
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7-22
Group Influence on
Organizational Culture
• Formal groups
– Committees
– Work groups, teams, quality circles
• Informal groups
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7-23